Bobby Roode Discusses His TNA Title Reign, How He Started with the Company, How the Roster has Changed, and More

– Bobby Roode was recently a guest on the Wrestle Shark radio show with hosts Simon Cassidy and David Thomson. Here are some highlights:

His thoughts on the growth of TNA being one of the few remaining “TNA originals”: “Immensely. I mean we have Sting here now, Hulk Hogan, people that have come into this company over the past several years is pretty amazing considering how young our company still is. We’ve grown so much talent wise, television wise, international pay-per-views, our company is only just a little over ten years old and every year we’re getting bigger and bigger. It’s just great to be a part of it all.”

On how he first got started in TNA: “I got a phone call from Scott D’Amore, I believe he was part of the creative process at TNA along with Jeff Jarrett at the last minute to be part of the Team Canada for the X-Cup Tournament in 2004. I flew in, did three pay-per-views and the rest is history. I impressed the people I needed to impress and they sent me home with a contract. I signed it and here we are today: basically I was a last minute replacement.”

Roode’s thoughts on his record setting world title reign for the company: “Starting back when I first broke in in 1998, being the world champion was something I always aspired to be. I think if you don’t want to be the world champion then you’re in the wrong business. I think everyone needs to want to be the best of the best, and in 2012 I was finally able to cash in and win that world championship, and make history with it. It was a great feeling and I look forward to being world champion again.”

Did his world title reign live up to his expectations?: “Absolutely. I got to do all the extra media, I came over to the UK last May, I went to Australia… and of course getting to work main events, competing with all the top guys: the Angles, the Hardy’s, the Stings, on not just TV but Pay-Per-Views and all the live events all around the world, just to carry the load and carry the company on my back. And that’s what the world champions job is: to be able to go out every night and compete at that level and have great matches. I think I was able to live up to that and if I was given the opportunity I think I would be able to do so again. A little experience on my side now. You know, that first run everything is kind of shiny and new. The second time I hope to take what I learned and be that much better.”

His thoughts on how the roster has changed compared to when he first came in: “I think you can compare our roster to anybody in the world. I mean when you look at the guys like Austin Aries and Zema Ion who just came in. Even the guys who are really untapped in their character, like Robbie E., I think we have such depth in our locker room and it’s only going to get better. Once these guys mature and get a little more spotlight…I don’t think anyone in the world can touch our roster.”

On who he would still like to work with: “I would love to get into a program with Kurt Angle, we had the match at Bound for Glory which was kind of a one and done deal which was quickly forgotten about, so I would love to sink my teeth into something creatively with Kurt. Samoa Joe is another guy that we’ve been in this company together for many years and never had a chance to do anything creatively together. We had a chance to fight last year at Manchester for the title and I think we just had great chemistry and could really do something great in the future.”